Strawberry plant named ‘Preakness’

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a new and distinct strawberry variety designated as ‘Preakness’ (a.k.a. ‘108965’).

Latin name of the genus and species: Fragaria x ananassa.

Varietal denominations: ‘Preakness’ (a.k.a. ‘108965’).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry plant designated as ‘Preakness’ (a.k.a. ‘108965’). ‘Preakness’ is a day neutral strawberry plant.

‘Preakness’ (a.k.a. ‘108965’) is the result of a controlled-cross between a female parent cultivar designated ‘106734’ (unpatented, proprietary cultivar) and a male parent cultivar designated ‘108296’ (unpatented, proprietary cultivar) made by the Inventor and was first fruited in Watsonville, Calif. growing fields. Following selection and during testing, the plant was originally designated ‘108965’ and subsequently named ‘Preakness’.

These new varieties were asexually reproduced via runners (stolons) by the inventor at Watsonville, Calif. Asexual propagules from the original source have been tested in Watsonville growing fields and to a limited extent, grower fields in high elevation. The properties of these varieties were found to be transmissible by such asexual reproduction. These cultivars are stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinctive strawberry plant designated as ‘Preakness’. This strawberry plant is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months. ‘Preakness’ presents strong ease of harvest qualities including good visibility though petiole canopy of fruiting plants, and a good flower stem length to petiole length ratio. The plant presents a semi-upright growth habit and a round to oblate plant shape, and produces mostly conic fruit and globose conic fruit. The mid-April through mid-September yield of ‘Preakness’ is high and the cull rate is low.

The following traits and photographs in combination distinguish strawberry plant ‘Preakness’ from known strawberry varieties. In addition, each of these new cultivars was confirmed to be a unique strawberry germplasm when tested against the California Seed & Plant Lab, Inc. (Elverta, Calif.) database using Short Sequence Repeats (SSRs). Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. Any color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The fruit produced by each new cultivar is attractive and of excellent quality.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying color photographs depict various characteristics of the cultivar as nearly true as possible to make color reproductions.

FIG. 1 shows fruits of ‘Preakness’.

FIG. 2 shows sliced fruits of ‘Preakness’.

FIG. 3 shows ‘Preakness’ plants.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

‘Preakness’ (a.k.a. ‘108965’)

This invention relates to a new and distinctive day-neutral type strawberry cultivar designated as ‘Preakness’. It is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months.

The following traits in combination distinguish strawberry variety ‘Preakness’ from the known strawberry varieties. Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.

The detailed botanical description in Table 1 was observed when the plants were 33 weeks after planting.

‘Preakness’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions, and the phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment. The following observations, measurements, and comparisons describe this plant as grown under normal conditions in Watsonville, Calif. unless otherwise noted.

TABLE 1 Preakness CharType Characteristic Preakness General Plant Habit annual Plant Growth Habit semi-upright Plant Height 26 cm Plant Width 30 cm Plant Width-Crown 5 cm Density of foliage, vigor light Plant vigor moderate Leaf Terminal leaflet width (mm) 75 Terminal leaflet length (mm) 75 No. teeth/terminal leaflet: 14 to 18 Shape of the terminal leaflet base obtuse Shape of terminal leaflet in cross- concave section Margin description of the terminal serrate to crenate Color of upper side of leaves 137A Color of lower side of leaves 139C Leaf blistering weak Leaf glossiness medium Limbs Petiole length (cm) 10.5 Petiole diameter (mm) 3.89 Petiole color 145A Petiolule length (mm) 19 Petiolule diameter (mm) 3.89 Attitude of hairs on upwards petiole and pedicel Stipule pubescence medium Stipule length (cm) 2.6 Stipule size small Stipule width (cm) 0.7 Stipule anthocyanin absent Stipule color (color code) 145A Pedicel color (color code) 145A Peduncle length (cm) 20.5 Peduncle size medium Peduncle attitude semi erect Peduncle pubescence, attitude of hairs medium, upwards Inflorescence Inflorescence position relative to even to above foliage Flower arrangement of petals overlapping Petal length (cm) 1.4 Petal width (cm) 1.2 Petal number per flower 5 to 6 Upper Petal color 155B Lower Petal color 155C Calyx diameter (cm) 3.2 Corolla diameter (cm) 2.4 Sepal length (cm) 1.6 Sepal width (cm) 0.3 Time of flowering (50% of plants in bloom) March Shape of stigma capitate Color of stigma 4A Length of style (mm) 2 Color of style 4A Color of the ovary 145B Length of the stamens (mm) 4 Number of stamen 22 Anther color 20A Shape of anther dorsifixed Size of anther small to medium Amount of pollen moderate Color of pollen 15B Color of filament 145C Length of filament (mm) 3 Number of flowers per truss 3 to 7 Stolon Stolon number 3 Stolon anthocyanin 183A Widest diameter of stolon 3.82 At leaf attachment (mm) Stolon color 145A Fruit Number of fruit per truss 2 to 5 Fruit length (cm) 5.2 Fruit width (cm) 4.7 Fruit skin color 45A Fruit flesh color excluding core 44A Fruit core length (cm) 2.9 Fruit core width (cm) 1.7 Fruit core color 37A Fruit weight (g) 26.3 Predominant fruit shape conic to short wedge Shape difference between primary Similar shape & secondary fruits Width of band without of achenes medium Fruit glossiness medium to strong Position of achenes below surface Achene color 145A Achenes per fruit 220 Achene weight (g) 0.1 Position of calyx inserted level of adherence of calyx strong Color of calyx 137A Firmness of flesh medium to firm Evenness of flesh color nearly even Sweetness (brix) 6 pH 3.42 Yield (g per plant per season) 2817

When ‘Preakness’ is compared to the proprietary female parent (106734), ‘Preakness’ presents its florescence as a spray of flowers from a relatively small roundish plant. However, the female parent is a large cylindrically shaped tower-like plant with a uniformly distributed presentation of large bright white florescence that protrudes from canopy as though from all areas of the plant and at different levels appearing to be topiary-like. ‘Preakness’ flowers are much less visible from a distance of 100 feet away whereas flowers of the female parent are prominently visible in a mass-planting large test block. ‘Preakness’ also differs from its female parent because many of the fruits of the female parent have a single long crease that appears to divide the fruit into two parts, and have a long flattened conic shape. Furthermore, the fruit of the female parent is conic and long conic but with variance between orthogonal mid-line latitude dimensions that accounts for the Spanish language planchada descriptor, as in flattened. Compared to the female parent, the plant shape of ‘Preakness’ has a semi-upright plant growth habit and is oblate to round in shape. The female parent presents an upright plant growth habit and has a large cylindrically shaped tower-like fruiting plant. The cull rate of fruiting plants of ‘Preakness’ is slightly lower than the cull rate of the female parent.

When ‘Preakness’ is compared to the proprietary male parent (108296), fruits of the male parent are primarily long conic and conic in shape while fruits of ‘Preakness’ are conic and globose conic in shape. Fruits produced by ‘Preakness’ are significantly larger than fruits produced by the male parent.

When ‘Preakness’ is compared to the check variety ‘Monterey’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,767), ‘Preakness’ differs from ‘Monterey’ in plant size and shape. ‘Monterey’ is larger and taller with more cylindrical shape than ‘Preakness’ having a small plant size and a round plant shape. Additionally, fruiting plants of ‘Preakness’ are higher than fruiting plants of ‘Monterey’ when comparing a flower stem length to petiole length ratio. ‘Preakness’ plants are slightly less susceptible to powdery mildew than ‘Monterey’ plants. Fruits produced by ‘Preakness’ are smaller than fruits produced by ‘Monterey’.

TABLE 2 Comparison of fruit features between ‘Preakness’ and the proprietary female parent FRUIT HYBRID HYBRID WIDTH FRUIT ID NAME (mm) HEIGHT (mm) 106734 Female Parent 40.83 49.96 108965 Preakness 40.47 45.27 FRUIT RATIO HARD- HYBRID (Height/ FRUIT NESS Yield ID Width) SHAPE* (newtons) (g/clone) 106734 1.22 7 7.78 1771 108965 1.12 6 7.62 943 *Fruit shape: 1. Oblate; 2. Globose; 3. Fan Lobes; 4. Necked; 5. Short wedge; 6. Symmetric conic; 7. Conic; 8.Long conic; 9. Long wedge

TABLE 3 Comparison of fruit features between ‘Preakness’ and the check variety FRUIT HYBRID HYBRID WIDTH FRUIT ID NAME (mm) HEIGHT (mm) Check Monterey 43.70 48.33 Variety (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,767) 108965 Preakness 40.47 45.27 FRUIT RATIO HARD- HYBRID (Height/ FRUIT NESS Yield ID Width) SHAPE* (newtons) (g/clone) Check 1.11 6 9.04 840 Variety 108965 1.12 6 7.62 943 *Fruit shape: 1. Oblate; 2. Globose; 3. Fan Lobes; 4. Necked; 5. Short wedge; 6. Symmetric conic; 7. Conic; 8. Long conic; 9. Long wedge 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant named ‘Preakness’ substantially as shown and described herein. 